


Don't Surprise Me

by roromir



Series: Voltron Vacation [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety, Domestic Fluff, Ethical Polyamory, Fluff, Friendship, Getting Together, Misunderstandings, Multi, OT3, PTSD, Polyamory, Polydins, Shiro Birthday Exchange 2018, Surprise Party, Surprises, Team Fluff, Team as Family, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, hints of angst, in flashbacks, plance if you squint, shallureith - Freeform, she/her pronouns for pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 20:36:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13818972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roromir/pseuds/roromir
Summary: The paladins plan a surprise party for Shiro. They think they're sneaky, but they are emphatically not..All characters are 18 or older in this universe. This story features the original five paladins running Voltron. I didn't hand-wave lineup changes away so much as ignore them entirely.





	Don't Surprise Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Toxicure](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Toxicure).



> My Shiro Birthday Exchange 2018 fic for tumblr user Toxicure, who asked for general Shiro content, shallura, shallureith and/or scrufflord Shiro. 
> 
> This is my first exchange and my first fic for the Voltron: Legendary Defender. It has been lightly edited by mods for the exchange, but do let me know if you see any typos. 
> 
> I had a second chapter planned, but I wasn't able to get to it in time. I may continue the fic in the future; I may not. Feedback is appreciated, constructive criticism is welcome.

Shiro first noticed his fellow paladins acting strangely about a week ago. He’d followed his usual non-crisis morning routine, slipping out of the giant bed he shared with Keith and Allura to get in some morning training and a shower. 

He ran his prosthetic hand through his damp forelock as he walked through the doorway to the kitchen and mess, where he found Pidge, Hunk, Lance, Keith and Allura huddled around a table, looking at something on Pidge’s tablet. 

Lance looked up first, eyes widening. 

“Hi, Shiro!” he shouted, elbowing Hunk and Pidge on either side of him. Pidge slapped her hands on the tablet, its screen blackening at once. 

The paladins turned toward him as if thinking with a single mind. Lance and Hunk, the worst liars, shared a shifty glance, but the neutral expressions on Pidge and Keith’s faces could put any card sharp to shame. 

Allura smiled up at the older of her two lovers as he pulled up short of the table where they all shared meals. Under his bemused scrutiny, her cheeks warmed, the pink under her warm brown skin betraying her. 

The tips of her pointed ears pinkened. It was distractingly cute. 

“Hi, guys…” Shiro met each paladin’s eyes around the table as they tried to act natural with varying degrees of success. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s peachy,” Hunk said, his deep voice nearing squeak levels.

He flinched as if someone had kicked him under the table. 

“We were just watching a funny video,” Pidge said, an elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. “Trying to explain YouTube to Allura.” 

“Yes, it’s very similar to something we had on Altea, but that was holographic, of course,” Allura chimed in. 

Shiro pasted a smile on his face at the pack of stone-cold weirdos he lived with and turned toward the food goo stations. 

“I’ll grab some breakfast and then I guess we can talk about 21st century video sharing platforms,” he said wryly. “Is anyone else going to eat?”

Shiro winced as five bodies leapt from their chairs, filling the air with the screech of chair legs against the floor. 

You’d think Altea, being so advanced, would have figured out a way around that. 

.

 

Shiro tried to put the team’s odd reaction to him out of his mind. Whatever prank they were plotting would probably only cause minor property damage, and wouldn’t cause an international incident, he hoped. In the meantime, he had plenty to do between helping Allura and Matt coordinate the shaky partnerships between the various rebel groups who’d risen up against the Galra alongside Voltron.

It taxed even his discipline not to fall asleep in monotonous meetings between the resistance and the governments of planets considering whether to join up. When he got back to the Castle of Lions, it was everything he could do not to collapse into the first chair he saw. The paladins had made a game out of catching him asleep in unusual places. 

Most nights, his toes dragged against the floors of the passageways by the time he made it to bed; his arm ached at the connection between the prosthetic and what remained of his flesh. 

Despite his fatigue, Shiro felt encouraged; despite his training as a pilot, he found a sense of purpose in the work of diplomacy. It also warmed him to watch Allura at work; she was a natural leader and carried  the poise of royalty with ease most days. 

He knew her well enough to know her tells. Her word choice became more precise and calculated, her words slowing, when she was growing annoyed with politicians too focused on their own self-interest to make concessions for the greater good. Unlike lesser beings who raised their voices when they were frustrated, Allura’s tone only grew softer. But anyone with half a brain could feel the chill in her words. 

On the other hand, he hoped he was the only one who could tell when she thought a native food item was disgusting. She always ate it and thanked the giver graciously, but his eyes found the muscle in her jaw clenching as she swallowed away the taste of whatever concoction she’d been presented with. 

Their connection had taken some time to get to where it was, though it was nothing compared to the amount of time Keith and Shiro had spent pining for each other. 

He couldn’t pinpoint a moment that marked his transition from “not in love with Keith” to “I love Keith, oh God, what do I do,” but Shiro knew the man was gorgeous the moment he saw his unusual eyes peeking from under his crop of too-long hair. 

Of course, the first time they met, Keith was still a teen, and Shiro himself was barely 20. He was a third-year student when Keith came to the garrison and his leaders assigned him to help the promising young fighter pilot. Despite feeling like an impostor, Shiro tried to tamp down his uncertainty and try to look like he knew what he was doing, since he did know flying, after all. 

Being around Keith gave Shiro the same swooping feelings in his gut as flying the simulator. He knew the feelings he had for the cadet were as real as the rockets he hoped to fly one day, but he didn’t feel ready to tell Keith how he felt. And he treasured the trust his friend had in him. 

If he hugged Keith a little tighter than friends would before the shuttle to Kerberos took off, well, the administration could just avert their eyes. 

Everything went to shit as soon as the Galra ship loomed over the curve of the moon they’d landed on. Shiro had thought he was surely dead time after time, but nothing could have prepared him for the mindfuck that was escaping the Galra, returning to Earth, being restrained by the same people he’d trusted to protect him, and then being saved by Keith of all people. 

In hindsight, he should have known Keith would do anything in his power to help him. 

It wasn’t long after they all arrived at the Castle of Lions that Shiro noticed the way Keith’s gaze softened whenever he looked at his former mentor. Shiro took it for general fondness until one night in the training room, when Keith had him pinned and simply leaned down and kissed Shiro. 

For half a second, Shiro froze at the sensation of his lips against Keith’s, a part of him refusing to comprehend the fact that Keith returned his feelings. His heart took off, warmth blooming through his chest. 

Then he came to his senses and wrapped his arms around the red paladin, lifting his chin to kiss him harder. 

.

Keith and Shiro walked into the mess holding hands the next morning, dreading the reaction of their shipmates. 

A smug grin crawled across Pidge’s face and she kicked Lance’s chair. 

“Pay up.” 

Lance groaned and leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling in desolation. 

“Congratulations, I suppose,” he said. 

“Who needs congratulations?” Allura murmured, glancing up from a tablet. 

As her jewel-tone eyes caught on their clasped hands, her face markings glowed and a blush bloomed across her face. 

“Ah, yes. You two are … courting each other?” She looked a little embarrassed. 

Keith threw up his free hand in the air. 

“Did everyone know except us?” he exploded. 

“Pretty much, dude,” Hunk said around a mouthful of space porridge.

Both Keith and Shiro noticed Allura’s odd reaction, almost as though she knew more than she felt she ought. 

Shiro decided he would broach the topic. While it flustered him to realize everyone already knew he loved Keith, his curiosity outweighed any hesitance. And Keith’s diplomacy skills still needed some practice. 

A few days later, he caught up with her near the bridge and gently clasped her elbow, lowering his voice to ask, “May I have a moment to speak with you, Princess?”

Again, the flustered reaction from the Altean, though she quickly seemed to regain control. 

“Of course,” she murmured, leading them into a briefing room, where they settled uncomfortably in chairs surrounding a curved desk. 

Shiro cleared his throat. “I realize this is a bit awkward, but I wanted to ask you something. When Keith and I shared that we are in a romantic relationship, you seemed to know already. Were we that obvious?”

Allura laughed and relaxed visibly. 

“Yes and no, Shiro. I -- and everyone else -- could tell that you two care very much about each other. But I, ah, I have a bit of a confession to make.”

She tangled her fingers together tightly and placed them in her lap. 

“You know I am connected to the lions, and them to each of you.” Shiro nodded. “Well, through that connection, it’s possible for me to receive some echoes of the … louder … emotions you all feel.” 

Shiro felt all the blood in his body rush into his face and ears. It was worse than he could have ever imagined. What echoes did the heart of Voltron hear from him and Keith? The fierce joy he felt as he finally realized Keith loved him and desired him? Their kisses? OTHER things?

He began to sputter an apology, but Allura held up a hand. 

“As soon as I realized what was happening, I put up a -- ah, I suppose one could call it a psychic wall -- so I wouldn’t be encroaching on your feelings. I’m sorry for any embarrassment I’ve caused you.” She paused. 

“But I don’t think you should be embarrassed about your love for each other. It’s actually very sweet.” She met his eyes with a small smile. 

Shiro thanked her for respecting their privacy and escaped the bridge, his mind whirring impossibly fast. 

He knew better than to keep it from Keith that Allura had felt their love through her mystical connections to their lions. When he explained everything, Keith only seemed slightly amused, when Shiro thought he might have felt violated. 

When he asked, Keith bestowed one of his soft smiles on him. 

“I’m not embarrassed by my feelings for you, Shiro,” he said. “Besides, we’ve heard way grosser things from Lance’s head hole while we formed Voltron.” 

“Ughhhh, don’t remind me,” Shiro laughed, burying his face in the bed.

. 

Despite Allura’s promise that she had closed off her psychic window into their relationship, she seemed to gravitate toward the men most of the time they were in public spaces. When Keith asked her, she flushed and said she simply enjoyed being near their happiness. 

Keith and Allura had grown much closer since he’d learned he was part Galra. Allura felt awful that her hatred for Zarkon had blinded her to the fact that Keith was hurting and needed her support. She’d tried noticeably harder since that event to be a person Keith could turn to for professional and emotional support. 

A few months into their relationship, Keith pulled Shiro into his room, stone-faced. 

“We have to break up,” he announced, arms crossed. 

Shiro felt his stomach drop through the floor. 

“Can you explain why, please?” He tried not to guess, his traitorous mind offering up possibilities anyway. 

Was it because Shiro had nightmares that left him gasping for breath? Because he wasn’t the same bright-eyed Shiro who left Earth for the small satellite of Pluto? This is why he shouldn’t have allowed himself to acknowledge his feelings for Keith. A part of him was waiting for the gorgeous, intense young man to decide Shiro was damaged goods. That cruel part of him always secretly thought --

“You deserve better than me,” Keith said, his voice wavering, but his arms firmly crossed. His gaze was glued to the floor. 

Shiro couldn’t help himself, despite the heartbreak looming. He gently clasped Keith’s arms just above the elbows, not forcing him to uncross his arms; just touching. 

“Please tell me why you think that,” he uttered, voice barely above a whisper. He felt like maybe, if he was gentle enough, he could fix this. 

“Because I think I like Allura, too!” Keith gritted out, his brows lowering and lip quivering alarmingly. “You deserve someone faithful, not some kind of … mental cheater!”

Shiro let himself do what he’d wanted to do since Keith pulled him into his room. He wrapped his arms around Keith, relief permeating his every cell. Keith buried his head in Shiro’s shoulder, his hands coming around to grip his shirt at the small of his back. 

“Keith, bud,” Shiro said in a low, gentle voice. “Let’s sit down and talk this out.” 

Shiro confirmed that Keith was feeling attracted to Allura in addition to his regard for Shiro, not replacing his feelings but adding to them. He told Keith that him wanting to be open about his feelings with Shiro was actually a good thing, and that if Allura returned his feelings, Shiro wasn’t opposed to them courting each other too, to borrow a term from Allura. 

He felt a blush spreading across his face as he acknowledged that he admired Allura as well. Keith looked intrigued. 

.

As he pressed his hand against the access pad to their suite, Shiro remembered how hard they’d tried not to be awkward around the princess in the following days. They’d mostly failed, considering the princess was not only perceptive, but dedicated to making sure nothing prevented the paladins from being able to form Voltron. 

The door slid open with the soft sound of pneumatic pressure releasing. Shiro toed off his boots near the doorway and padded into the room, where Keith and Allura were sitting on the bed, their heads together. 

“It’s not much longer now,” Shiro heard Allura murmuring. “I wonder what he will think.” 

“Think about what?” Shiro said, a crooked smile carving a dimple into his cheek. 

“Darling!” Allura cried, jumping up from the bed and colliding with Shiro’s body with a soft “oof.” Her arms circled his waist and her white curls surrounded him, a fragrant cloud that softened the rough edges of the day. 

Her smooth hands rose to his jaw, framing his face as she leaned in for a kiss. 

Shiro’s hands spread over her back and he smiled, probably a tad dopily. 

“Well, hi,” he said. Allura backed toward the bed, taking his hands and leading him next to Keith, who lounged in a black T-shirt and Altean pajama pants. 

He plopped onto the bed, bouncing Keith, who laughed softly before leaning in for his own greeting. Keith’s nimble hands were unfastening his vest and utility belt before Shiro realized what was happening, and then Allura was pressed against his back, hands cheekily squeezing his pecs. 

Shiro breathed out a laugh. “Did you guys miss me or something?”

“Every time you’re not in our arms,” Keith said. 

Shiro didn’t remember until much later that they hadn’t answered his question. 

.

Shiro didn’t know if he’d ever really get used to the sensation of having formed Voltron with the other Paladins. It was like simultaneously being himself, but joining the four other minds, and sometimes the foreign push of the lions’ motivations as well. Of course, Black mostly communicated with him, but with the way the humans’ minds were linked, sometimes they got snippets of what the lions were telling their respective paladins as well -- not in words so much as images or feelings. 

They were training in orbit today outside of Arus, the drills comfortable with the familiarity of muscle memory. These days, forming Voltron typically felt more like a yoga pose -- a satisfying stretch -- rather than the grinding pop of machinery that comprised trying to force the robotic lions together when their pilots were out of alignment. 

“Ok, guys, I think we’ve got it, let’s just run through the drills one more time and we can call it a day,” Shiro said over the open comm channel. 

He felt a tiny barb of annoyance come through his connection to the other pilots. It was Lance-flavored, for lack of a better descriptor. 

“Lance, you got a hot date?” Shiro said mildly. 

“Nope, no siree,” Lance said down the channel. “I just think we kinda got this down. I’m not being, like, insubordinate or anything!”

I just have to get ready for the big secret, Shiro heard Lance think loudly. 

“Lance, what the hell?” Pidge yelled. Apparently his mind was open enough that everyone heard him. 

Keith sighed in exasperation, his breath a sharp puff into his communicator. 

The next thing Shiro knew, Voltron was contorting in space as Pidge’s arm punched Lance’s leg. 

Shiro tamped down on a spike of anger he was almost certain the other paladins could taste as well. 

“Everybody get back to the castle,” he said, voice placid. “Now.” 

As Voltron retracted into five separate lions, Shiro heard Pidge muttering about the size and looseness of Lance’s head hole. 

.

Shiro was waiting in the lounge when everyone returned from their hangars, some more hangdog than others. 

His arms were crossed. He probably had a vein in his forehead pulsating with his stress and annoyance. 

“I know you guys are planning some kind of prank, and I don’t get on your case too much for this shit, but it can’t interfere with our training,” he said. “Someone please explain why it was necessary for Pidge to damage two of our lions in an effort to maintain some silly ‘secret.’”

“They’re not damaged!” Pidge exclaimed at the same time that Hunk burst out, “It's not a prank!” 

Lance and Keith whirled around to glare at Hunk and he held up a hand. 

“First off, Lance, you of all people should not be giving me an ounce of guff,” Hunk said. “And we’ve got to tell him, this is getting ridiculous.”

Shiro felt ice in his core as he tried not to take Hunk’s words for the worst possible scenario. He was past this; he knew he was loved and a valuable part of the team. He hoped there was a good reason for this attempt at subterfuge. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Keith muttered, surging into Shiro’s personal space to lay a firm, smacking kiss on his mouth. “We were trying to surprise you for your birthday, not kick you off the team. I know where your mind is going and that’s not it.” 

Keith’s eyes softened as his calloused hands framed Shiro’s face. 

“Everybody, go get your stuff. Shiro, let’s get our princess,” Keith directed, taking Shiro’s metal hand. “It’s party time.” 

.

“It’s… my birthday?” Shiro said, confused, sitting at the head of the table as everyone looked at him expectantly. 

A pile of presents, wrapped in whatever the paladins and Alteans could find, sat upon the table in the mess hall. Streamers, made of curiously organic-looking materials, were tacked to the walls. 

“Well, technically, your birthday’s not for another three cycles, but Lance couldn’t keep his stupid head hole shut, so happy early birthday,” Pidge said. “We wanted to celebrate, since it’s a leap year.”

“A curious solution to time measurement issues!” Coran interjected, his mustache quivering. 

“Yes, very curious,” Allura said, placing a hand on Coran’s shoulder, trying to head off his monologue. 

“The point being,” Hunk said quickly, “Happy birthday!” He handed Shiro one of the packages, something roughly rectangular. 

Shiro smiled at the yellow paladin, unwrapping the cloth from the package. It was some kind of dense food item, covered in Hunk’s replicated plastic wrap. 

“It’s cake, kind of,” Hunk said. “I’d compare it to fruitcake, but, yanno, actually good.” 

“Thanks, buddy,” Shiro said, giving Hunk a bro hug. “I can’t wait to try it, and it looks like there’s enough for everybody.” 

“My turn!” Lance cried, grabbing a lumpy package from the table and thrusting it into Shiro’s hands. 

Shiro unwrapped the thing, finding something grey and soft inside. It was a few things, he realized: a short scarf, a slouchy hat and some glove-like things with thumb holes but just a large hole for the rest of his fingers. 

“Did you make these?” Shiro said, touched. “I didn’t know you could knit.”

Lance looked a little embarrassed. “Yeah, my abuela taught me,” he said. “I’m the youngest by a few years, and I hung around her a lot.” 

Shiro began putting on the handmade items. Allura reached over and adjusted the hat so that his forelock peeked out of the brim of the hat, and arranged the scarf around his neck. 

“It looks great, Lance,” Keith said. “How are we only just now learning about this?” 

“Mostly because I just figured out how to get the ship to make me knitting needles,” Lance said. 

“Well, I want some of those hand warmer thingies next, in green, please,” Pidge said. “My hands are always cold on the castleship.” 

“Yeah, that’s why I made them for Shiro!” Lance said. 

Shiro pulled Lance into a hug as well. “You’re a great friend, Lance,” he said. “Even if you can’t keep a secret.”

“Dude,” Lance protested half-heartedly, patting Shiro on the back. 

Pidge picked up the last item on the table, a flat rectangular item about the size of a paperback book. 

She gave it to Shiro with both hands. “Careful,” she cautioned. 

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “Is it fragile or aggressive?” he joked, peeling back the wrapping gently. 

“It’s… delicate,” Pidge said. It looked like a basic tablet, but when Pidge showed him how to turn it on, he realized she’d made him a kind of digital picture frame, which cycled through all the photos they’d taken with their handheld communicators. Lots of pictures of the paladins and Alteans laughing. More than one of Shiro asleep wherever he’d sat down, including once in the black lion. 

And picture after picture of he, Keith and Allura together, looking at each other, touching, kissing, laughing or serious, just existing together. 

“Pidge,” Shiro said, a lump forming in his throat. 

The shorter woman ducked under his arm and squeezed him tightly. “I’m sorry we made you worry, Shiro,” she said into his chest. “We just wanted to give you a good birthday.”

“Bring it in, guys,” Shiro said, knowing it was only a matter of time. 

Group hugs seemed to happen a lot with Shiro’s little family. 

.

“I notice I didn’t have a gift from either of you at my surprise party,” Shiro teased his lovers later, after they’d eaten their fill of Hunk’s surprisingly good fruit cake. They were back in their suite, on the bed. Shiro sat back against the headboard, Keith nestled against him, and Allura lounging in Keith’s lap. 

“That’s because our gift isn’t an item,” Allura said lazily as Keith braided her long hair. Keith paused to mouth and nip along Allura’s neck a moment before turning his hooded gaze on Shiro. “We got you the weekend off.” 

“We’re going to a planet with a beach and a hotel,” Keith said, knowing full well that such a thing was one of Shiro’s favorite daydreams on long days of glad-handing and negotiating. “And that’s all I’m telling you.” 

Keith and Allura leered at him in a disturbingly similar manner. 

Shiro decided not all surprises were a bad thing. 

 


End file.
